The Wemstroms: Budget cuts are an attack on learning

Monday

Nov 18, 2013 at 3:01 PMNov 18, 2013 at 3:01 PM

We just returned from a Road Scholar (formerly Elder Hostel) trip to Cahokia Mounds just southeast of East St. Louis. It changed our ideas about American Indians, and it gave us a fresh respect for the world of archeology and archeologists.

The state-of-the-art interpretive center and Washington University have worked together for 30 years to learn more about the people who lived in one of the largest cities in the world and whose sophisticated culture rivaled the Aztec civilization and extended from present-day Georgia to Louisiana and northern Illinois.

Cahokia had a population of 20,000 people, more than London. The reconstructed Woodhenge, a circle of cedar trees, was an astronomical site, and the base of Monks Mound is bigger than that of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Around 1400 the city was abandoned, and no one really knows why.

Like everything else in Tea Party America, there was a downside to our whole trip. We talked at length with the assistant director, who had spent his entire working life at the site. He was there since before it was recognized as a U.S. National Historic Landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He is not optimistic about the future. Over the last five years, the site's budget has been reduced by 50 percent. He's had to close the museum two days a week, lay off staff and turn the gift shop over entirely to volunteers. Because the museum is now closed 100 days a year and because school funding for field trips has also been reduced, attendance has dropped from 500,000 visitors a year to 300,000.

At other sites across the country archeological work has been drastically cut back. Washington University professors of archeology advise their students that there are no jobs and no money in archeology. What is depressing is that when the current generation of archeologists and museum staff people retire, there will be no one to take their place.

North of East St. Louis we visited Lewis and Clark's jumping off place for their trip to the Pacific and back — obviously an inspiring tale. Again a beautiful building, and again significant budget and staff cuts. Even the exterior of the building needs a new coat of stain.

Closer to home, The Journal-Standard almost daily lists the cuts in state and federal aid that have done significant and lasting damage to our public institutions and the people they serve. We could also list the cuts in service and staff in our own area — Mount Carroll, Savanna and of course, Thomson.

We drove in and around East St. Louis. Two things struck us immediately. First, we were impressed by the number of historically significant sites of early French settlers and later the arrival of Americans. Again, there is no money to properly maintain and staff these sites. And second, saddest of all is the decline of East St. Louis — a living monument to the greed, short-sightedness and indifference of corporate America.

What made America great were our world-class schools and world-famous colleges and universities, our magnificent libraries and cool museums, and our outstanding teachers and scientists.

All these institutions and people are under attack, because they represent knowledge, the search for a better understanding of the world and most importantly a desire to share their knowledge.

The know-nothings detest knowledge, which might cause employees to question blind obedience to the corporate model. Their so-called cry for fiscal reform is just a cover for their attacks on learning.

Chuck and Pat Wemstrom live in rural Mount Carroll. They can be reached at patandchuck@gmail.com.